No One Can Tell You...

Okay. So when they tell you while you are pregnant that your days of good sleep are over, you smugly think to yourself, "Surely that will not be the case with me. My baby is going to be a good sleeper." I am willing to bet that 9 out of 10 moms are proven wrong once that baby arrives.

The night Evie arrived, I couldn't sleep because I was just too excited that she was here. It felt odd to me that this little person that had been a part of me for so long, was now laying next to me, all by herself. "What if she's cold? Or lonely?" I thought. At that point, I was still having to wake her to eat, though she quickly started waking up on her own just fine. Over the next few weeks, I got better at sleeping when she slept. She'd wake two or three times in the night for a diaper change and a feed and then go back to sleep.

Then, magically, when she was about 10 weeks old, she started sleeping "through the night." I remember waking that morning at 5 a.m. and thanking the Good Lord for all those hours in a row. She stuck with that pattern for a few weeks, and I thought we were home free. But then the night waking started again. And other than a brief stint after New Year's and the occasional night here or there, she's back to waking up once, twice, sometimes three times a night.

I am tired. I would be tired as a stay at home mom. But I am a full-time working mom and so feel really tired. It sucks to have to get up at 6:30 a.m. (okay most days it's more like 7) after spending what feels like half the night up with the baby. But that is the path I have chosen. And most days I am able to just push through.

And there is really no straight answer on how to get your baby to sleep "through the night." (In fact, medically speaking, "through the night" is considered to be a five hour stretch, so, technically, Evie does that. It's just at the wrong end - usually 7:30 to 12:30 or so.) There are so many "techniques" to get your baby to sleep it is overwhelming, from cosleeping to cry-it-out methods. It's hard to really know what is normal and what you can do that won't scar your child for life! I just have a hard time letting my daughter scream her head off in her crib in the middle of the night (or any time for that matter). But I also don't sleep as soundly when she is in the bed with me. So currently what I do is get up and rock her back to sleep, put her in the crib and tip-toe out of the room.

I guess the point of this little rant is to say that no one can really tell you how hard it is going to be, how exhausting. I'm really just doing the best I can, following my "maternal instincts," as they say, and praying that, one day, I may get a full night's sleep on a fairly regular basis.

Fun with Food

As Evie will be 8 months this Tuesday (March 31), we have been slowly expanding her menu of solid foods. For breakfast she now has either oatmeal, puffs or toast bits with some fruit; lunch is veggies (soon to include some protein); snack time includes another serving of fruit; and dinner is usually mixed grain cereal, veggies and often concludes with a "cookie" (which are really Gerber biter biscuits). We only give her these right before her bath as they seem to just melt and get all over her, her booster seat and anything else she comes into contact with. Blake and I have enjoyed watching her explore the flavors and textures of things that we take for granted (toast, chicken, water).

As she eats more and more solid foods and gets closer and closer to her first birthday, I am both excited and sad that the time will soon come to wean her from breastmilk. I've thoroughly enjoyed our nursing relationship and feel very proud that I've managed to keep it up this long considering I went back to work full time when she was only 12 weeks old. That being said, I am very much looking forward to having my body back to myself and not having to lug a 5 lb. breast pump back-and-forth to work everyday!

A Quick Visit to Apollo Beach

Evie gets her first boat driving lesson from Grandpa Mallard.

Evie with her Great Grandma Smith (Mallard). She was obsessed with Grandma's necklace the whole weekend.

The Mallard Brothers (Ken and Blake)

Hanging by the pool with my cousin-in-law, Laura.

Evie with her Mallard grandparents

The weekend of March 20-22 we drove down to Apollo Beach so that Blake's Grandmother, Aunt Sue and cousin Laura could meet Evie. We had a wonderful time doing the usual - eating, drinking, hanging out by the pool and taking a boat ride. This marked Evie's first boat ride, and, though she wasn't a big fan of the mandatory life vest she had to wear, she seemed to enjoy being out on the water.

Jumperoo!

Evie got this jumperoo for Christmas, but has only recently figured out how to bounce and swing in it. As I write this she is bouncing away, blowing raspberries and babbling to herself. So cute!

Fever

Evie had her first fever on Wednesday evening (March 11). It topped out at 101.6. We gave her some Tylenol and a tepid bath and that brought it right down. Thursday her temp was still slightly elevated (around 99) so stayed home with her just in case. By the late afternoon she was fine. We still aren't sure what that was all about. The only other symptom she's had is a little bit of a runny nose so who knows? I tend to blame everything on teething, but she may have had a little cold.